trans_9 | Cranston For Hire [Open!]

It was once again time for Billy to assess the progress being made in this seemingly endless war with tasks and deadlines. So far, reorganization of the Engineering department was about 25% complete. Not terrible for a day's work, but he could certainly do better. Several projects were stalled pending discussion from the involved parties. His social time and interactions with the Rangers had taken a hit due to all of this.

Though he was following his orders to take more resting time during the day and having fun with Ronnae on many of the nights, nothing stopped him from taking on more than enough work to fill the compressed schedule.

Today's work: Supervising the new structure and performing odd jobs around the ship. Repairs were going well in the hangar, Neuropathy needed to be left alone, infrastructure was busy in the City. He visited wherever he could and lent a hand to each, struggling to find time for what he wanted to do in secret: move his personal belongings to his girlfriend's house.

As Billy wandered back and forth throughout the day, a stuffed backpack always accompanied him. Throughout the day, the loaded-down teenager made trips between a number of places on the upper levels and a particular house in the City. Distracted as he was with the constant juggling of omnicom, comm ring, tools, and items, he eventually wore himself out.

Where he ended up shouldn't be a surprise: in the city park, fast asleep, sprawled across an assortment of odd items. Somehow, he'd note when he woke up, he doubted this was what had been meant by the recommendation for 'personal time'.

((ooc: The two location tags basically mean you can catch him anywhere: asleep with shiny stuff to steal or rushing back and forth between the different areas of the ship. Just make a note of where you found him.))

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Billy smiled at that, giving Alice a few fond pats. She really was a sweet rat, and he could see why Alex loved her so much. She almost reminded him of Jack, his beloved experiment buddy from his early days as a Ranger.

"I'm guessing Alex isn't in trouble. Do you want me to come see him?" Yawning, Billy slowly sat up with Alice supported in his hand. With his other hand, he rubbed at his eyes and slipped his glasses on. Sure enough, there was Alex sleeping just a few feet away.

"Ah, there." He scooted closer to the sleeping teen, noting the breaths. "Doesn't look like he's been out long. Should I wake him, or..."

Oh yes. Billy slipped a hand into his pocket, pulling out a container he'd picked up on the planet. Sweet-smelling treats for Alice, as he'd promised a little while ago. He offered one to her. "These are from the planet we just visited. What do you think?"

Alice was clearly excited about the treats. She tried balancing on the edge of his hand, reaching across to the treats. They smelled like fruit and milk and tasty things.

Clearly her thoughts on these were a resounding "yes!"

Billy laughed, giving her another fond pat and dropping a few more treats in easy reach. "I'm glad you like them. Now let's see about Alex."

He brought them over to Alex and sat beside his shoulder, calling softly at first and then louder. "Alex?"

Alex groaned a bit and rolled over, ignoring the calls. He mumbled, "Five more minutes, Tavr-"

Alice took the treats put them in her mouth, and then scrambled up Billy's arm, heading up his shirt sleeve so that she could eat them in a safe place.

Billy had to bite back a startled laugh as Alice set up camp inside his shirt. Those little paws were more ticklish than they looked.

"It's me, Billy," he tried to say more loudly, digging through his pockets for some device that would help. It would probably be a bad idea to touch Alex when he wasn't prepared for it, so he decided to pull out a little fan and blow some air at Alex's hair.

Alex tried brushing away the air, but it successfully roused him. He rubbed at his eyes, and sat up. "Hnng? O-oh, yeah, I was th-thinking of w-waking you up." He laughed a bit, rubbing at his face. He yawned and stretched.

Noticing the lump in Billy's shirt, he smiled. Next he noticed the container. Putting two and two together, he smiled a bit wider, "T-thanks Billy, that's r-really sweet of you!"

Billy shook his head. "I suppose I woke you instead," he laughed, watching Alex wake. "Is the programming work rough?"

He glanced down at the lump in his shirt and smiled too, lifting the container for Alex. "I saw them in a specialty shop on the planet and thought of her. We need to keep our mascot healthy and happy."

Alex smiled brightly at Billy and nodded "Wh-what would we do without her?"

His stomach flipped a bit, seriously considering that question. She was starting to get on in her years. It was a thing he had been dreading since he found her and learned how short a rat's life-span was.

He forced a smile though, and took the container to examine it's ingredients, double checking that it was all rat-safe. He shook his head, "N-no, it's n-not t-too bad, so far at least. Y-you know h-how I'm n-not great w-with sleeping." He gave a nervous laugh, "I g-guess it just c-catches up ta me s-sometimes."

Billy spared a smile for Alex, wondering when Alice was going to return to her owner. It was cute that she was sharing time with him, but it tickled rather intensely. He wasn't sure how long he could keep his laughter contained.

"I'm glad it's going well so far," Billy said honestly, leaning in for a closer look at Alex. "You're sure that's all, though? Are the shadows bothering you?"

Yup. He felt like going for the hard questions today.

Alex shrunk away, just a little bit. It was really more from the question than from Billy. "N-not t-too much. No more than u-usual, at least."

He perked up suddenly as he remembered something, "Oh! Anwei, sh-she found a w-way ta use a c-coral treatment t-ta strengthen my bones!"

Alice finished eating the treat and slipped out from Billy's shirt from the collar and walked around the back of his neck to sit on his opposite shoulder.

Billy nodded. It would be better if there was some way to completely save Alex from the shadows, but managing them was good enough. It had to be. He reached up a hand to pet Alice, laughing again at her antics.

"That's great! Did she tell you about it in more detail? I can't say I'm familiar with coral treatment, but it sounds promising."

"S-something about getting it injected i-in my blood, an' t-taking supplements, an' exercising. I-it doesn't sound t-too hard." He smiled at Alice too, as she twisted to groom at Billy's hand as he attempted to pet her.

"Sh-she's also l-looking the the database sh-she's got for a w-way ta c-create artificial sh-shadows."

Perfect. Billy's smile grew wider as Alice had her way with his hand, though he was largely smiling at Alex's good news. "I really hope it works. Both of those things. I want to see you happy, Alex."

Alex smiled, his heart warmed by the words. "Thank you Billy."

Cranston For Hire [Open!]

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